The invention relates to systems and methods for monitoring and measuring the interests of a user viewing content on a computer network, in particular on multiple servers in an enterprise network, while protecting the privacy of the user.
It is useful for vendors who sell items through the Internet to be able to compile sophisticated marketing data that indicates users"" interest in the vendors"" Web pages. Interest in a particular page may be determined by counting the number of xe2x80x9chitsxe2x80x9d on that page (i.e., the number of times the page is accessed) or by combining a count of the number of hits with data indicative of the amount of time users spend viewing the page. The number of hits for a page and the amount of time spent by users viewing a page are both determinable using conventional techniques.
Although measurement of users"" interest in each of a vendor""s pages is useful, additional useful information may be obtained by correlating these measurements on a per user basis. Thus, a vendor may learn that a first type of user that is interested in page A is also usually interested in page B, while a second type of user that is interested in page C is also usually interested in page D. Such information allows the vendor to customize his Web pages on the fly for each user so that a user that initially selects particular pages is presented with the opportunity to select more of the type of pages in which that user is expected to be interested.
However, in many instances, a user accessing the Internet jumps from server to server. Unless different vendors on different servers agree to cooperate, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a first vendor on a first server to know that a user who accessed a particular one of the first vendor""s pages also accessed a particular page of a second vendor on a second server. In addition, there is no built in mechanism on the Internet for globally identifying users so that vendors on different servers can share such information. Also, even in instances where a group of cooperating vendors have adopted a cross-server user identification scheme that globally identifies the users to the vendors, it is questionable whether such schemes violate users"" privacy since each of the participating vendors is exchanging information about users that the users might not want to be shared. Moreover, such limited cooperative efforts at cross-server identification generally employs a single identifier for each user. However, cross-server identification schemes that employ a single identifier have disadvantages. For example, should one of the vendors stop collaborating with the others, such as because of an organizational or business change, issues of ownership and access to information tied to a shared identifier can arise.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a distributed identification scheme which allows individual servers to control their own local identification scheme and to collaborate with other servers at its manager""s discretion to allow a user to access multiple servers in an enterprise network without potentially violating the privacy of the user.
A distributed user identification process is provided that allow individual local servers or domains to control their own user identification scheme and to collaborate with other local servers or domains at the discretion of an enterprise server. The enterprise server correlates the local user identification scheme with a global user identifier and may disclose to interested outside parties, such as advertisers, only the global user identifier without revealing the identity of a user who interacts with a local server.
Also provided is a process for compiling anonymously a global user profile from local user profiles generated by the local servers.
In general, according to one aspect of the invention, a computer network includes at least one local server and an enterprise server in communication with the local server. The local server establishes a local ID for the user and communicates to the enterprise server the local ID of the user and a local user profile based on user interaction with the local server. The enterprise server links the local ID to a global ID assigned to the user by the enterprise server and records in a database the information about the local user profiles to form the global interest profile of the user.
Preferred embodiments may include one or more of the following features. The global ID may be known only to the enterprise server and may be kept secret from the local servers. User information recorded in the enterprise database may include the local ID of the user. The local user ID assigned by one local server may be hidden from the other local servers. The local user profile may be communicated to the enterprise server at predetermined times and/or when a number of changes made to the local profiles are greater than a predetermined number of changes. The global ID may be assigned to the user directly by the enterprise server when the user first accesses the enterprise server. Alternatively, the global ID may be assigned to the user when the user accesses one of the local servers and the local server communicates the local ID of the user and possibly also a local user profile to the enterprise server. The local ID and the global ID may be persistent and include state information. The state information may be communicated between the user and the local server and the enterprise server with the help of cookies. The local server may communicate the local user ID to the enterprise server by transmitting on an HTML page a URL which may include a graphic symbol of zero width and height, or by temporarily redirecting the URL selected by the user to a local URL. Transmission of the URL may be transparent to the user.
A global interest profile may be established for each user of at least a subset of users and the global interest profiles between different users may be compared. At least one score may be computed for a user and the score of the user may be compared to a corresponding score of another user. The scores may represent an absolute number score. The local user profile may established incrementally by adding information about a most recent user interaction to a legacy user profile stored at the local server. The user profile may be processed in real time and weighted according to the recency of the user interaction with the local server. The global user profile for a plurality of users may be updated in a single pass.
In another aspect of the invention, a computer apparatus for establishing a global interest profile of a user includes at least one local server in communication with the user via a communication channel wherein the local server assigns a local ID for the user during the first access by the user to the local server. An enterprise server communicates with the user and the local server via the communication channel and assigns a global ID for the user. The local server communicates to the enterprise server the local ID of the user and possibly also a local user profile based on user interaction with the local server. The enterprise server links the local ID to the global ID and records in a database information about the local ID and, if desired, also the local user profile to form a global interest profile of the user.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method monitors interactions between a client and a plurality of servers communicating with one another in a computer network by designating one of the servers as an enterprise server and the remaining servers as local servers. The local server, upon interaction with the client, establishes a local ID for the client and communicating at least the local ID of the client to the enterprise server. When the enterprise server receives from the local server the local ID of the client or when the client interacts directly with the enterprise server, the enterprise server assigns a unique global ID to the client and links the local ID with the global ID.
Preferred embodiments may include one or more of the following features. The enterprise server and the local servers may form an enterprise group. The client may receive state information from the server upon interaction with the server and may transmit the state information during a subsequent interaction with the server. Likewise, the local server may receive from the enterprise server state information related to the client, and may transmit the state information during a subsequent interaction with the enterprise server that relates to the same client. The state information may be persistent and stored in form of a cookie.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a computer program residing on a computer-readable medium includes instructions for causing an enterprise server to establish a unique global ID for a client and link the global ID with a local ID associated with the client on a local server. The program may also form a global interest profile of the client based on local interest profiles compiled by the local server.